This invention relates to the field of hunting and fishing field equipment, especially to portage equipment and portable boats.
Hunting an fishing trips into wilderness areas, especially wetlands areas, poses a significant problem to the hunter; he or she needs a convenient way to transport more equipment and supplies than may be back packed, and he/she needs a way of transposing a boat. The prior art shows several examples of boats used as cargo carriers, including folding boats, but none that may conveniently portaged; that is, easily moved by man power alone through the brush and wilderness.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,881 to Speranza is typical of these folding boat patents. Speranza discloses a folding boat, hinged on a athwartship line so that the bow folds back over the stern. The unique aspect of this patent is that a removable spring support for trailer wheels is provided, and a receiving recess is molded into the stern of the boat to hold a towbar, all to adapt the boat for towing behind a vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,973 to Levinson is an earlier folding boat patent, where the boat has an integral trailer frame which, when the boat is folded, is a trailer for towing, and, when the boat is unfolded, provides the stiffening frame to hold the boat open. A screw adapter fastens the bow section to the trailer tongue. The trailer wheels are retractable into provided wells into the stern section of the boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,139 Johnson shows a folding boat which can be used as a cart top luggage carrier. Also note that this patent shows the concept of using a sectional hinge with removable pin, locking the hinge sections together to fasten together the sections of the boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,422,930 to Rutledge is an early folding boat. Rutledge uses through bolts and wing nuts to secure the two halves of the boat, and converts the boat to a trailerable form by clamp on wheel and bumper clamp assemblies.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,175,234 to Kutsi shows a folding boat, which uses a winch and cable assembly to pull the boat into an unfolded position and maintains the cable under tension to hold the boat open.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,664,577 to Sanborn discloses and claims a clamp on wheel and axle assembly to convert a folding boat to a trailerable assembly. Sanborn also discloses a variant for a standard (non-folding) boat which includes a towbar and frame for supporting the boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,097,371 to Rough discloses a folding boat. Rough addresses directly the use of the folded boat as a cargo carrier, disclosing a boat upper rim shape and constriction so that the folded boat has a sloped forward face, with the hinge area sealed against water or rain and a gasket between the upper and lower halves to seal the closed boat as a cargo container.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,548,274 to Van Oeveren shows a folding boat with a single, permanently attached retractable rear wheel to permit towing of the folded boat.
Each of these prior art patents shows a trailerable unit, or a truck mounted unit; none address the problem of portaging such a boat through the wilderness.